THE ROACH. 119 



till it becomes tough, use as little water as possible ; if the river is 

 discoloured mix vermilion until it becomes of a bright red, something 1 

 the colour of salmon roe. Or use anatto, which affords a very bright 

 vermilion hue. The cochineal and lao insects yield, before they are 

 exposed to the operation of acids, a rich crimson colour. 



Streaky Paste should be made of the finest flour and sugar and water. 

 Colour half of it with red lead, and when using mix them together so 

 that the paste may have a streaky appearance. 



White Paste. Soak a piece of very stale bread for ten minutes, press 

 ^he water thoroughly out, and knead with an equal quantity of new bread, 

 either dry or dipped quickly into water and squeezed ; the result is a soft, 

 tough, and perfectly white paste. Again, the dough for bread previous to 

 baking makes a good paste. An excellent paste may be made by dipping 

 crumbs of bread in water, and kneading it in a towel till it becomes a 

 thick paste. A little honey may be mixed with it. 



Sometimes fly fishing is practicable, and exceedingly useful after the 

 spawning exigencies have been disposed of in early summer. The flies 

 that may be used are as follow : 



The furnace hackle with peacock body ; the black palmer, dotterel 

 hackle, with dirty yellow silk body ; a well-imitated green drake, the coch- 

 y-bonddhu, or with a fly made of red hackle, and with a tough gentle put 

 on the hook instead of any wrapping for the body of the fly ; next, a 

 small coch-y-bondhu, with a gilt tag at the end, and black gnat, they 

 seem to like best. As roach seldom come to the top of the water, a 

 good sized shot a few inches above the fly should be attached. In mani- 

 pulating, look out for a shoal, as they keep incessantly swimming back- 

 wards and forwards, quietly throw over them, letting the fly sink ; and, 

 as it is being drawn up again, they generally take it. The hotter and 

 brighter the weather the better the sport. The artificial fly house or 

 dung fly, black gnat, and red ant, &c. if the hook be, moreover, armed 

 with a live gentle, is a most killing lure for heavy roach. A natural 

 fly, a common meat fly or house fly, is far more deadly than the artificial 

 fly ; with the natural baits the angler can scarcely use too small a hook, 

 resorting to his blow-line as described for dace. If he come across a 

 shoal of roach, he should always get behind it, and cast his flies in front. 

 Some anglers whip with either a real or an indiarubber gentle. 



